Gareth Powell : Ack-Ack Macaque

Book Review : Pulp sci-fi fun with added monkeys

In an alternative future where England and France joined to form a union in the 1950s, a journalist seeks to track down whoever murdered her husband, the young heir to the throne is on the run after discovering a dark secret. Throw into the mix a cigar smoking, swearing, monkey with a penchant for banana daiquiris (who would surely be voiced by Ron Perlman in any film adaptation) who flies a Spitfire and battles Nazi ninjas and a conspiracy theory that threatens the future of humanity and you have quite a heady brew.

Alternative realities! Virtual worlds! Airships! Explosions! Talking monkeys! Ack-Ack Macaque crams so many pulp elements together that at times it feels like its about to burst at the seams.

Luckily the book just about holds itself together. Throwing so many ideas around with reckless abandon, it sometimes feels like the narrative is moving too fast, and ideas or concepts that I would quite happily have spent more time finding out about speed past in a blur. With a structure built around a series of cliffhangers, occasionally plot points seem to pop up from nowhere, or end abruptly.

The joy end exuberance of the writing, characters and story swept me along until the end and helped gloss over most of the shortcomings of the novel, but it did leave me with the lingering suspicion that Ack-Ack Macaque was slightly less than the sum of its parts. Like an action movie that is more style than substance, it might be best not to think too hard about, but just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Radical Dads : Universal Coolers

Album Review : A lo-fi pop joy

It feels like all the music I'm listening to at the moment has fallen directly though a timewarp from 1995. Now I'm not a huge fan of musical nostalgia, but it seems to me that there are some pretty good reasons for bands taking musical cues from the grunge/post grunge era right now.  That rough 4 track analogue sound in the prefect antidote to the precision (pro) tooled perfection on a lot of guitar music that's been popular over the last few years. Also, if you're looking for inspiration, there were some pretty good albums kicking around in 1995.

Radical Dads sound like they have been listening to two of 1995's best records - Pavement's Wowee Zowee and Sleater-Kinney's eponymous debut album, with bits of Sonic Youth thrown in, and a lot of their own demented strangeness, on Universal Coolers.  That's not to say its a carbon copy of an album recorded 20 years ago - the whole album has a wonky charm all of its own.

Like the best albums (and yes, I have totally fallen in love with Universal Coolers) this is a grower. It takes a bit of work to get into the first few tracks, which sound a little fuzzy and murky. By the the 3rd track, Slammer, and then In The Water, the hooks start to dig in and not let go.  And whilst Lindsay Baker might not have the strongest voice, theres a sweet cracked charm and vulnerability to her vocals. And as we all know, despite what X-Factor judges might have us believe, beauty lies in imperfection, not stage school theatrics.

And by the time the album closer Cassette Brain rolls around, slowly building to a beautifully timed climax, its hard not to  be a smitten kitten for these tracks.

It's not all grungy guitars and lo-fi production though, theres a shiny pop heart to most of these songs, especially the title track, with some sing-along choruses propped up by fuzzy riffs and squally feedback, if you like that sort of thing (And you'd be a fool not to)

As far as lyrics go, who the flip knows what half of these songs are about? (Possibly a concept album about an air conditioning factory?) And what exactly is a "Desperado Dude Lens"? Much like Pavement or Beck, bands that  took a lot of flak for obtuse lyrics, the heart of these songs is in the mood, not the words and yes, I did dance around the kitchen to the album more than once - the official ATS seal of approval for any great album.




Radical Dads live here on the interwebs, where you can buy a copy of Universal Coolers, if you can't find it elsewhere